Just a quick post to celebrate this remarkable achievement by two of DC’s most respected sommeliers: Andrew Myers of CityZen restaurant, and Jarad Slipp, formerly of CityZen and now with RdV Vineyards in Delaplane, Va., became Master Sommeliers on Wednesday.

This is also a big coup for CityZen, Eric Ziebold’s restaurant in the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in SW DC. Last year, Carlton McCoy, who now works at The Little Nell in Aspen, Colorado, became an MS. He had worked at CityZen and mentored under Myers in his MS studies.

Andy Myers (left) and Jarad Slipp, are DC’s newest Master Sommeliers. In this photo from Washingtonian.com, they are wondering if a special Redskins cuvee of Cabernet Sauvignon should have been called something else.

Washington’s restaurant scene is churning out top-notch somms, and we should be proud. Kathy Morgan, who reached the top rank in 2010, was DC’s first homegrown MS. She now works the floor at Range along with Keith Goldston, MS, and the two have helped several DC-area somms prepare for the grueling examinations required to become an MS. (Fran Kysela, now a wine importer based in Winchester, Va., became a Master Sommelier in 1989.)

Congratulations are also in order for three other newly minted Master Sommeliers: Alexander LaPratt of Atrium DUMBO in New York City, Lindsey Whipple of Vegas Vine in Las Vegas, and Pascaline Lepeltier of Rouge Tomate in New York City. Lepeltier is a media darling and will get lots of (deserved) press for her achievement, but let’s not forget the others.

2 Responses to DC Hails Two New Master Sommeliers

Congratulations to these guys for a momentous accomplishment! For those who don’t know what an MS is or about the MS exam, watch the documentary “Somm”, which is available on Netflix (nope, I’m not a shill, just someone who saw it and liked it!). Makes the bar exam (the other kind of bar) look pretty easy. Thanks Dave for boosting the local wine scene!